Reason Patch A Day Is Coming To An End

It's time.

I've written this post a dozen times over the last couple of years, but I think that it's finally time. It's time to end the Reason Patch A Day experiment and move on to other things.

It's been a long, weird, enjoyable, and sometimes frustrating trip. I've shared this a few times, in a few different places, but at its most basic level Patch A Day was a challenge. I had been trying to wrap my brain around synthesis and creating a new patch, every day, seemed like a good way to finally hammer home the concepts I had been learning over the years before. It was a way to force myself to actually work through creating new sounds, rather than just cycling through endless lists of other people's presets, and the blog began as an attempt to share those early, tentative attempts at sound design.

But, over time I learned that Patch A Day was also a distraction. I got stuck, musically, and couldn't seem to move forward, so I thought that time spent creating new tools would be time well spent. Once that musical rut ended, I'd have a collection of new, custom sounds that I could use to start creating again. But, over time, I wasn't creating tools for myself anymore; I was just creating them for the blog.

"Feed the blog," was a phrase I used too much and it was an action that was starting to make me unhappy. It was fleeting, of course. Blogging is often its own reward, and I have certainly found this blog rewarding, but I've come to the conclusion over the last year that as long as I continue to work on Reason Patch A Day, I'll never make any music, which ironically, is why I started all of this in the first place.

So, this is my last post. I hope you've enjoyed this weird experiment as much as I have. It's been outstanding getting to know many of you and listening to the amazing music that you've created. I wish you all the best of luck, in life, and in music, and hope that we can stay in touch.

I'll leave the blog up and running for a while. I'll continue selling the refills, if you want them, but I'm off to try to find my muse again and explore the explosions of energy and the chilly shadows of doubt that come from creativity.

Thanks again for your interest over the years and your support.

On to the next adventure....

Start The New Year With New Refills!

I try not to go overboard with shameless self-promotion, mostly because it makes me a little uncomfortable, but I did want to remind everyone that you can support Reason Patch A Day by donating to the site or through the purchase of a refill. The breakdown of what is available is described below.

Reason Patch A Day Archive, Four Year Refill

In addition to releasing the 3rd annual refill just a week ago, I merged all of the patches from Reason Patch A Day into one, giant refill that covers all four years of the blog. There are refills that contain more sounds, of course, but the size of this thing still surprises me with well over 1,405 patches and sounds.

• 184 Bass Patches
  
• 64 Combinators: Effects
  
• 33 Combinators: Instruments
  
• 66 Effect Patches
  
• 3 Kong Kits
  
• 322 Pad Patches
  
• 355 Percussion Patches
  
• 67 REX Loops
  
• 142 Synth Patches
  
• 12 Sampler Patches
  
• 157 Samples
  
• 5 Yamaha Drum Machine Kits
  

The Four Year Archive is available to anyone who donates $3 or more to the blog. That's the same price as if you had donated $1 per refill in the past and I'm willing to go back and look through previous purchases to make sure you get caught up, if that makes sense. It wouldn't hurt to remind me if you had purchased previous refills, if you only plan on sending me a dollar or two, but as you already know, I really do appreciate any support I get. Thanks so much!

Kick Toolkit Refill, v1.1

And, if you haven't already purchased it, the Kick Toolkit Refill has been updated recently to include even more analog kick drum samples.

The Kick Toolkit Refill contains:

• Kick Drum WAVs: 400 unique kick drum samples created using the Jomox Mbase 11 Analog Bass Drum Module, a single voice analog synthesizer fine-tuned for producing a variety of bass drum sounds. Each kick was created specifically for this refill and was sampled at 24-bit resolution, with no outside processing, for the cleanest possible signal and sound.
• Effects: The Kick Toolkit Refill contains 38 effect patches, using Reason's Scream, RV7000, Pulverizer, and other effect units.
• Mini-Combis: One or two device Combinators designed specifically for the purpose of manipulating and sculpting kick drum patches and samples. Each Mini-Combi has been programmed with front panel control ranges designed for its limited task to make final tweaks fast and easy. A number of Mini-Combis have also been included to provide presets for devices that do not normally allow for loading and saving patches (ex. BV512 Vocoder). 11 mini-Combis are included, along with 43 additional presets, providing help with compression, equalization, and other general purposes.

The Kick Toolkit Refill costs just $5 and can be purchased using the sidebar link at the top of the page.

Bernard Childcare Trust Refill

And lastly, don't forget that you can still purchase the Bernard Childcare Trust, a collaborative refill from some great sound designers and terrific people. If you didn't already know, proceeds from the refill go to James Bernard's children, so in addition to getting some new sounds for your collection, you're purchase does some good for a valued member of our community.

Yamaha RX-17 Download At How To Program Drums

If you've been following Reason Patch-A-Day for any length of time, you know I have a fondness for 80's era Yamaha drum machines, with the Yamaha RX-17 being my favorite of the black plastic, awkward family of devices. Neil Paddock, at the blog How To Program Drums, recently let me know about a pair of RX-17-based combinators he built that you should definitely check-out, if you share any of my fondness for the RX-17.

• RX-17 Drum Machine Emulation
  

For RX-17 completists, Neil also has scans of the RX-17 pattern book and WAV and and MP3 exports of the built-in patterns. Check out his downloads page for his Combinators, other RX-17 tools, and a number of other files.

Thanks for a great resource, Neil!

Kick Toolkit Refill v1.1 is here!

Did you get my email?

I just sent out messages to everyone who purchased the Kick Toolkit Refill to let everyone know that I have just released a new update to the refill. Version 1.1 includes minor tweaks to navigation and 90 additional kick drum samples, bringing the total number of analog bass drum samples contained within the refill to 400!

If you purchased the refill from me, you should have already received the download link for version 1.1. I know that a couple of people had issues receiving my emails in the past, so if you haven't received anything from me (and it's not hidden in your spam folder), shoot me a message and I'll make sure you get an updated link! You can reach me here.

If you haven't purchased the Kick Toolkit Refill, but think you'd like to add it to your collection of music making tools, you can a little learn more here, or you can just click the link provided in the sidebar at the top right of the page. As in the past, please keep in mind that I fill each order personally, so depending on when you place your order, it may take a few hours for me to respond.

Thank you for continuing to visit Reason Patch A Day and my special thanks go out to everyone that has supported me with a financial contribution. Even a tiny donation means a lot to me and I appreciate your support.

Kick Toolkit Review on Resonate Filter!

Lewis, over at the always interesting Resonate Filter blog, recently posted a review of my Kick Toolkit Refill. The review was embarrassingly positive and Lewis even took the time to do a short interview with me, as well as a post a quick video demo of the refill. If you're still on the fence regarding my refill, Lewis does a great job outlining what you can expect to find in it's many folders.

If you haven't already added Resonate Filter to your list of blogs to visit on a daily basis, I recommend you do. It's one of the first blogs I read everyday. Lewis does an outstanding job finding an eclectic mix of articles about music production beyond the usual "hot topics" that make the rounds on the other sites. Lewis has also been kind enough to contribute to the blog!

If Lewis' review convinces you that you can't live without your own copy of the Kick Toolkit Refill, you can learn more about it and purchase it here or you can hit the sidebar on the right!

Thanks, Lewis!

The Kick Toolkit Refill: Available Now!

I've been dropping the occasional hint about a top secret project that I've been working on for months, but it's finally here! Introducing the Kick Toolkit Refill, the first commercial refill from the Reason Patch A Day blog.

The Kick Toolkit Refill is a mini-refill dedicated to bass kick drum sounds and low-frequency sound sculpting, perfect for nearly any genre or style of music.

The Kick Toolkit Refill contains:

• Kick Drum WAVs: Over 300 unique kick drum samples created using the Jomox Mbase 11 Analog Bass Drum Module, a single voice analog synthesizer fine-tuned for producing a variety of bass drum sounds. Each kick was created specifically for this refill and was sampled at 24-bit resolution, with no outside processing, for the cleanest possible signal and sound.
• Effects: The Kick Toolkit Refill contains 38 effect patches, using Reason's Scream, RV7000, Pulverizer, and other effect units.
• Mini-Combis: One or two device Combinators designed specifically for the purpose of manipulating and sculpting kick drum patches and samples. Each Mini-Combi has been programmed with front panel control ranges designed for its limited task to make final tweaks fast and easy. A number of Mini-Combis have also been included to provide presets for devices that do not normally allow for loading and saving patches (ex. BV512 Vocoder). 11 mini-Combis are included, along with 43 additional presets, providing help with compression, equalization, and other general purposes.

So, how does it work and what does it sound like? I have a few demo files, taken from the refill, that I'd like to share with you to give you an idea of what you can find in the new refill. The first is a fairly standard kick drum sample:

• Kick Toolkit - Kick 17 ( WAV File )
• Kick Toolkit - Kick 17 ( NN19 Patch )
• Kick Toolkit - Kick 17 ( Combinator )

Here's another simple kick drum sample that could be used in a number of different projects. As you can see, all of the samples provided have an accompanying NN-19 and Combinator included in the refill, which allows you to quickly play back a clean version of each WAV file. Also included in the refill are a few additional Combinator patches, labeled as "extra," that provide a slightly modified sample playback:

• Kick Toolkit - Kick 96 ( WAV File )
• Kick Toolkit - Kick 96 ( NN19 Patch )
• Kick Toolkit - Kick 96 ( Combinator )
• Kick Toolkit - Kick 96 - Extra ( Combinator )

In addition to the deep, thumping kicks you'd expect, I also experimented with using the Mbase 11 Analog Bass Drum Module to create a handful of higher pitched percussion sounds that don't necessarily fit the typical "kick drum" sound. Here's an example of one of these less stereotypical kick drum samples:

• Kick Toolkit - Kick 27 ( WAV File )
• Kick Toolkit - Kick 27 ( NN19 Patch )
• Kick Toolkit - Kick 27 ( Combinator )
• Kick Toolkit - Kick 27 - Extra ( Combinator )

Beyond the 300+ kick drum samples provided in the Kick Toolkit Refill, I've provided a few effects and Combinators for use in tweaking your bass drum sounds. Here are two examples of what are essentially just filters, created using Reason's M-Class Equalizer:

• Kick Toolkit - High Frequency Rolloff ( Combinator )
• Kick Toolkit - Low Frequency Rolloff ( Combinator )

Given the narrow focus of the Kick Toolkit Refill, this mini-refill is available for only $5 and can be purchased via PayPal. Please use the link in the upper right of the sidebar to make your purchase or use the button below!

Please keep in mind that all refill orders will be filled manually and so it may take up to several hours to redeem, depending on the time of your order. Thank you for your patience and your interest!

Four Years?!?

It's absolutely shocking to me that, four years ago today, Reason Patch A Day was born. Since that first post I have shared well over 1,000 patches and samples, covering three major versions of Reason, and no doubt, hundreds of hours of work. Thanks for sticking with me and the blog over that incredible amount of time.

The success of the blog isn't just my achievement, of course, and a great deal of what has made Reason Patch A Day work over the years is the terrific readers I have here. Your donations, comments, and exceptional music have given me tremendous encouragement, so thank you for supporting me. The occasional reader patches I've received have been outstanding, as well. Thank you to all of you who have contributed in one way or another.

I was hoping to make a big announcement to celebrate this milestone, but unfortunately there have been a couple of bumps in the road that are keeping me from unveiling a project I've been working on, behind the scenes, for quite a while now. Expect something special from me soon.

Thanks for taking the time to visit, contribute, and breathe life into this weird experiment.